#HousingStruggles #AffordableLiving #FinancialIndependence
Who else feels like they’re stuck in a never-ending cycle of flatting in their late 20s? 🏠💸 It’s like we’re all playing a game of financial Jenga, trying to balance rent, bills, and saving for the future without everything toppling over 😩.
I mean, how are people our age supposed to afford their own place when rent eats up almost half of our paychecks? It’s a struggle just to imagine being able to afford a private toilet, let alone starting a family 🚽👪. So, when is it actually socially acceptable to stop flatting and have our own place? Because I’m tired of sharing space with roommates and longing for some privacy 🙅♂️.
But hey, enough complaining – let’s focus on solutions! How can we live independently and still have some money left at the end of the month? Here are a few tips that might help us break free from the flatting cycle:
– Consider house-hacking: Buy a multi-unit property and live in one unit while renting out the others to cover your mortgage 💰🏡.
– Cut down on unnecessary expenses: Take a hard look at your budget and see where you can trim the fat – maybe that daily latte or monthly subscription can go 🤔☕.
– Look into government assistance programs: You might qualify for housing assistance or first-time homebuyer programs that could make owning your place more affordable 🤝🏘.
Let’s help each other out and share our strategies for achieving financial independence and living the dream of having our own place without breaking the bank! 🌟 #FinancialFreedom #IndependenceGoals #PersonalFinanceTips
Congratulations, you have clocked the zeitgeist.
The answer is to get a partner and pool your money together.
Comparison is the thief of joy. Do you and dont worry about the other bullshit.
Flatting at 27 is fine, so is living with your parents
This is what several decades of not building enough high density housing does to a country.
That and NIMBY twats.
I’m Gen X. I was flatting up until I was married at 30. What’s wrong with flatting?
Welcome to the club, my flatmates are 36 and 34, so it can be much worse trust me!
I’m 28 y/o and live in a studio apartment which averages $400 a week once utilities are factored in.
My pay per week is slightly less than yours but I still manage to save some money each pay but my outgoings are generally low.
I’m 27 I still flat, flatmate is 29
Had flatmates who were in their 40s before.
Shits expensive.
After tax I make around 4/5ths of what you do or I will until mid July when I’m out of work.
So you’re doing a lot better then you think
I’m 28 and just moved into my own place, it’s a small (converted granny flat under landlords house) and I pay $450 per week which includes the internet. I can save minimum $1k per fortnight, which is still good but obviously slows me down a bit compared to flatting (I want to continue travelling & would like to buy a house). I would’ve continued flatting if living with people wasn’t such a pain (bad flatmates) but I think the sacrifice of not saving as fast as I could was worth my sanity.
In my experience around your age people were flatting with people, getting sick of it, splurging on a place alone, going back to flatting, &c &c. It only really ends if you have a partner and split the higher rent or are loaded or lucky.
I know people in their late 30’s who are still flatting. It works for them don’t compare yourself too much to others you deem more successful than yourself.
In this day and age having 1K after tax a week is doing quite considerably better than many others I know of.
Nothing wrong with flatting if you are happy doing that at any age. Also maybe consider taking on a flat mate if you are happy to share your space with someone in the interest of saving money for a deposit if you are looking at buying.
Sounds alright. Lived with parents til 25, then with friends next couple years. Eventually moved in with gf, got married, moved around a bit, bought a house in early/mid-30s.
Not for a second felt compelled to yolo solo in a shit studio.
I think the average age of flatting is increasing just like everything else
do you have any debts? If you do, try and work them off. That will give you a little more money to save with.
I flatted until I could buy my own place at 35.
You just suck it up and sacrifice 50% of your pay to live in peace. Cut down on whatever expenses you can. It’s worth it
Unfortunately the answer is get a partner or move back with your parents. If you ever want to save up money, you wont ever save up money if you are dropping 40-50% on rent alone.
Step 1 : date a young hot solo mum
Step 2 : choose any house you like
I feel for the younger folks today. I bought my first house in 2001 for $128k (it was Palmy after all), and then moved back to Wellington with my folks for longer than I care to admit – got plenty of stick too from colleagues etc. Saved my butt off and was finally able to buy my current house without a crippling mortgage.
Do what you need to do to get ahead and don’t listen to anyone else. Upskill yourself, get a partner, move back with the folks … whatever works for you.
I’m late 20s and luckily I enjoy flatting, and I also don’t see anything “wrong” about flatting at this point. Most people I know are either renting an apartment with their partner, living in flats, mortgaged up to their eyeballs or back at mum and dad’s. I don’t know many renting their own place.
My advice is to rent a room with an ensuite. Slightly more expensive but at least gives somewhat of a feeling of privacy. Also, make friends with your flatmates. When flat hunting talk to the flatties and only move somewhere with people you want o be friends with.
I earn more than you, share my room with my partner and we share a flat with 3 others in their 30s.
I buy food from Reduced to clear, Why Knot and PnS.
Bought my car in 2018 for $5.5k. And still doing great.
Overall, we’re just trying to save. But also do some international trips yearly.
It might be worth you find another place.
The answer is to get a partner.
Otherwise you choose between having your own place or having money for shopping, social events or holidays. It’s not an easy choice.
In my 20s I found it easier to rent a 2 or 3 bedroom house and take in one flatmate. Still not the cheaper option but at least you kind of get to choose who you live with.
30 and currently spend 50% of my income on a teeny one bedroom apartment.
I don’t want to go flatting because I love the independence but am also not a position to save significant money.
Live alone for the sanity.
Or flat for the financial gain.
Flatted till I bought a house at 36. I never lived alone till I bought the house. Ranged from 1 flatmate to 7 over the years. My last flat I deliberately got a room with my own bathroom. An option to alleviate a little of the stress? Also living with only one flatmate or a couple means more chance of having the house to yourself at times. I also house/pet sat occasionally to have a break from flatmates. And making a savings plan to buy a house also got me through the last 3 years of flatting, when I was pretty over it!
35 and still flatting. You can either pay through the nose for your own place now or save like hell in the hope of affording a place in the future. You’re in a good place if you have full time work and a good career with most of your working life ahead of you and few financial burdens.
Reading this thread it seems like the issue is more about having dud flatmates, which definitely makes the experience less enjoyable. I’d suggest looking for a place with some friends instead of rolling the dice with randoms with a bedroom to spare.
It does suck but super normal to be flatting well into your 30s now unless you have a partner to rent a place with or you can buy somewhere by yourself
>I earn about 1k a week after tax
70k per anum is not a lot of money any more. I was earning that in my mid 20s a decade ago with no degree/trade and the cost of living was a he’ll of a lot less than it is today.
Why the fuck would you not want to be flatting at 27? Lol.
Enjoy being young and having friends mate.
If you dont like your flat, find one you do like.
The best friends youll ever make are flatting.
And guess what, once you padd your mid 30’s, making friends is somewhere between super unlikely to downright strange….
26 and renting a place for $430pw. Not including bills (bar water as it’s an apartment which the LL pays a fee for).
I was lucky to find it, even luckier to be selected by the LL really. Makes me nervous if I ever need to move as there aren’t really many places like my current place around for the price it is.
I make $62,000 per year so it’s a huge chunk of my income for my own sanity but I’d rather have it like this over living with other people (went to boarding school and uni).
2 bedroom apartments shared with one other person or a couple are not bad. A lot easier than having to navigate a 3-4+ extra people sharing one bathroom and fridge
Its becoming saddeningly common for people even in their 40s/50s to still be renting/sharing. Even high earners with more than double the average salary are in this situation so its better to just accept it and or plan to somehow amass wealth enough to look at making purchasing a smarter financial option the renting/flating.
If you don’t have the bank of mum and dad to help, or the ability to create an asset to sell over and above your day job, I just don’t know how people can do it these days. Housing is increasingly a haves vs have nots with the have nots being the growing segment of society.
Its really horrible that this is what we’ve chosen as a society.
I’m 33 and have 2 flatmates.. one is in his 50’s and one in his 60’s.. both are happy and content and enjoy things they like without home ownership, so don’t feel too bad.
I was there at 27 too. Saved and invested as much as I could from 25-30 and now I own a house. Co-own a house with a friend. And have 2 other friends helping us pay our mortgage. So yeah I’m basically still flatting at 31, but I own (half of)it now so at least it feels like I’m getting somewhere.
earn extra income on the side
I’m 37 and still flat. It’s great since I like having people to talk to and it makes it possible to live in a much nicer place than I could afford normally – $250 buys one room in a nice 4-bedroom house, I don’t think I could even find a studio apartment for $250, no matter how crap.
I don’t live in a city, which is a huge bonus to affording my own place. I have a one bedroom, lounge, kitchen and bathroom, 1 min walk from the main road for $230 plus expenses. Petrol is more expensive here but I can walk everywhere I need to go, so it’s not actually more expensive to own a car here.
I’m 36 with a decent paying job and I’m sharing a room in a 6 person flat with my partner.
The choice boils down to live for cheap and have cool holidays or live on our own and not have cool holidays. We chose holidays.
That being said after almost 20 years of flatting I’m definitely eyeing up moving to a smaller town and getting our own place. No guarantee the rent will be much cheaper though.
If I was on my own there is no way I’d even consider living by myself. Rent is just too high and after a long time being poor I quite like being able to go out to cafes and bars once a week or so.
Sounds like you have a decent income so you might be able to make it work. Even so you will still end up spending a lot just to have a roof over your head.
a good decent is not 1000$ a week thats what restaurant servers make either work more hours or explore other options I am 21 and i gross nearly 6k a month after taxes